The Peregrin Falcon

“CHICAGO — Motorola is banking on a plan to separate its foundering cell phone unit from the rest of the company…” ( By ASHLEY M. HEHER Associated Press 3/27/2008)

In case you haven’t heard, if you own a Motorola phone, there will be some changes to the company that manufactures it. I am not a market analyst or even someone who follows the stock-market more than the occasional check-in with “Mad Money” hosted by Jim Cramer. So, I was very shocked to hear that Motorola is selling the cell-phone division of the company. After some poking around the net I found other stories ranking Motorola’s sales as poor, yet almost all the articles stated what the Wall-Street Journal LiveMint.com said:
“ Motorola ranks third in the world market after Nokia and Samsung, with a 12.3% market share, according to Strategy Analytics, a research company. “
(http://www.livemint.com/2008/02/13232709/Nokia-consolidates–its-lead.html Posted: Wed, Feb 13 2008. 11:52 PM IST )

I don’t know what this will mean for people like me who have owned a Motorola phone for over two years and cannot afford a new phone or a new contract. I would hope that ranking third in the world market share would be enough to sustain a business. If a company can only be profitable in the number one or two spots, what hope is there for competition?

I also uncovered that much of the woes of the phone sales are do to the units not moving in China as well as they used to. As a “free-market” promoter, I have mixed emotions about this news. I want trade and capitalism to move as freely as possible. However, I am not sure that is always happening.

My main concern is a lack of communication to the consumer, like myself. I don’t want to have to buy a new phone because another country doesn’t like the company I purchased from. If Motorola goes under and stops servacing their phones, my next cell phone purchase will have to include a review of the health of the company as well. I don’t think I’m ok with that.

What next, I have to sell my Ford before I pay it off because the rest of the world hates the type of car that is cheap to own here? I know this is generalizing, but I want to get my full frustration across. When did it become a bad thing to only be the world’s third largest anything?

To be continued……….

For a better understanding of what a conservative should espouse to be, watch the second episode of the newest HBO special on John Adams. I have viewed and re-viewed this show multiple times. I honestly don’t know how much is fact and how much is fiction; but I can say that the portrayal by Paul Giamatti of a man who is torn between those who will have peace at any loss; including their lives and dignity; and those who are experiencing the pain of loss and understand that there will be no peace because of the aggressor not because of the defender; is stunning beyond clear description.

Conservatives understand that while good people do not want war; not every one is good. In fact, for those of us who have faith in Christ and the wisdom of the Bible, we are told that no-one is truly good without the guidance of God. The fact that people are, by nature, evil is counter to our modern view of humanity, but calling the sky polka-dot does not make it so.

Conservatives also understand that the hard choices are more often the proper choice, however unpopular it may be.

Colonial Revolution - unpopular, had to be done
Civil War - unpopular, had to be done
World War I - unpopular, had to be done
World War II - it took loss of practically an entire fleet to get us into this one, had to be done
Korean War - still unpopular (my grandfather was one of those “forgotten vets”), is still going on; That’s right we are in a “cease fire” not a secession of aggressions. Ask the Marines who still patrol that border.
Cold War - still unpopular, had to be done
Dessert Storm - still unpopular, had to be done
War on Terror - still unpopular, has to be done

I mention these wars knowing full well that not all the presidents were Republicans, or even conservatives. I mention them so that we may get a sense that the hard road is narrow, and hence conservative. The meaning, the definition, the life-blood of being a conservative is and will continue to be to do the thing that most liberates people. Sometimes that means ridding the world of tyrannical forces that threaten liberty, both in spirit and in actuality.